I got the bug real bad!

[Rusty Seeker]

Okay,

I had a rough day... I got home and drove around on my beloved 1940 Farmall B. That was the best cure for any stress! I took it out on the road, put the clutch in, shifted to fourth gear (road gear), let the clutch back out, let her bark for a bit at an idle, then let her rip at open throttle... She barked, popped and purred, spat up some smoke, and scared some ducks out of our "pond", and we were off! At this point, I got choked up... then I realized that I got the bug real bad ! Is this normal? Do other folks get choked up by the sound of an old engine on a tractor? Does anybody else's ears perk when you hear an old 4 banger under a load? Or am I just a crazy redneck?? Well, I hope this little bit will amuse some folks, and I get the answer I need!

Rusty

[Peter Ruffle]

My wife says I'm a little weird but I can tell a round engine aircraft long before I see it, and yes I get goose bumps and find it hard to swallow when I hear a P-51's Merlin scream or 4 Wright Cyclones wind up on take-off when the B-17 comes for an airshow. Listening to a 2 cyl Deere working in the woods in ths spring means it is sugaring time and yes that does it too. So you ain't the only one out there, though some might say we were "out there"
Peter

On any given day with way to many more important things to do there is nothing like taking the Cub or H out for a little tractor ride and forgeting it all and letting the memories take over.
Forget smelling the flowers, bring on the exhaust fumes.

[CharlieBiler]

Amatures,
You think you got it bad? I get on my Moline U and go see my friend, when it is fifteen degrees out, and snowing. My disease is heridatery. My father drives his TL-14 Chalmers through the woods to relax. That three cubic yard bucket is just the ticket to help one unwind. Pap's Farmall Cub is his 'quad runner'. He lets his car sit outside so he can keep his 335 Moline in the warm heated garage.

You know you got it real bad when you disassemble a 24 inch Southbend lathe to get it in the basement, to make tractor parts. When you plan your vacations around Coolspring and the Grease, Steam, and Rust Festival.When your shopmates refer to them as,'Charlie's annual nervous breakdown'.

When you get up 90 minutes early so you can drive your tractor to work. Considering you clock in at five AM and the trip takes thirty minutes by car. When you are talking to a gorgeous woman leaning on a Twin City JT and you keep looking at the tractor, as she walks away.......SHOOT ME NOW!

[Jim Tremble]

Charlie

You had better get a Shot for that and I mean NOW. You have it BAD !!!

Jim

[Clattermac]

How about pulling an old diesel and watching the front end hover about 2" off the ground, and a foot tall flame burn out of the stack, that is a halmark warm memories card!!!!!

[Tanner Remillard]

I know I have it bad. By the sound of a Rumely giving me goosebumps to my heart pounding when I find and engine in a "junkpile", I know I have it. Driving my International TD-6 through the trees and brush is also a good stress reliever. But, there is nothing better than waking up in the morning at the showgrounds and smelling wood and coal smoke from the stack of a steam tractor, or hearing a one or two cylinder tractor pull a load. And when I mean tractor, I mean TRACTOR. Craig Anderson knows what I mean my that

[bimjy]

I get a ""double-shot" when I drive my halfbreed AC!! Tractor driving memories with some oilfield barking to boot! My gosh, how much longer till frozen puddles are a mere memory? Come on springtime! Can't wait!!
Jim -Ohio

[Rusty Seeker]

Okay,

I drive my Farmall B to my friends house. 'Bout a 45 min. drive on a tractor. Its worth it! I am on that tractor so much, the serial # is now my address! Before I shut the ol gal off, I crank the throttle up and bring it down just so I can hear a nice 'POP' outta the ol gal before I go. I get the jitters when Im pullin up a hill, just that engine purrin and poppin, its the best music anybody can ask for! I took my brand new Polaris Sportsman Quad out of the shed just so I could park my tractor in there for a stormy night, the quad just slept outside with a nice warm tarp. Another time I realized I got it bad, is when I was drivin up the driveway in a car, on a nice, warm, sunny day, I looked at my B, just sitting there, sun right on it. I hopped out of the car, not helping to carry in the grocerys, and hopped on the tractor to take a nice little drive! I can spot a rusty peice of meatal from a half a mile (or more) away, from a car, going 60! My eyes are always scanning for possible treasures. I even picked out a engine flywheel in a bush, on the ground, in a feild, going down a road at 60. Just my 2 cents worth,

Rusty

[Craig A]

YES Tanner----I DO know what you mean!!! And if we EVER get another decent day in Wisconsin, I'm gonna start the Rumely....or the Nichols....well......I'm gonna start SOMETHING just to hear it run!!!

Reminds me a stupid joke:
A pair of jumper cables walk into a bar.
The bartender says I'll serve you but don't start anything.....

I LMAO EVERYTIME I even THINK of that joke!!!!!

[Tanner Remillard]

Good one Craig you need to send me some good pics of your Nichols when you get her fired up. That is one NICE tractor to my eyes

[Craig A]

Keep workin' on that Avery Tanner!!!! OF course jumper cables won't do you ANY good with that one.........................

[Don Selmer]

Craig, Speaking of having the bug real bad, I watch the CD of the 2004 ROSHOLT tape today. Being living in Wisconsin. That's a Temporary fix for now. Your show sure had alot of NICE TRACTORS there last year. Watching you start them as well as belting them up under a load. WOW !!!!!!! What a pretty sound. I can't wait for spring to get here again.

[Craig A]

I FORGOT about that CD.............................
What a GREAT idea!!!

[Paul Spence]

You tractor guys sure work at it to have fun. I just go out to the shed, spin the flwheels in the right direction, sit back and relax. Once in awhile I get up to tweek the fuel or change the speed just for something to do. Lot's of times, I have one running while working on another. Now thats real relaxition. Sure beats watching the tube. Just trying like heck to have some "FUN", even in NJ where folks just look at you like you're . Hmmmm Maybeeee , but I think I'm OK .

[Tony Thompson]

You guys are all very ill, I should know ! At least we have old iron around to treat the symptoms of this terminal illness. When I contracted Mad Cow Disease a while back I thought I was finished but O.T.D. (obsessive tractor disorder) seems to have the M.C.D. in remission

[BDMelon]

just came in from the shop, but before i left, i gave the flywheels a spin over
on my novo, just to hear her come on spring time

[Russ Hamm]

rusty, as a kid in the 70's my dad had a international 806 diesel with a turbo. he told me not to use the ta when i didnt need it. but --- when he wasnt around and i was going to another field or going home i would leave the ta back until i was open throttle and highest gear going down those old dirt roads and then shove that ta forward, man, the smoke and music would come out of that old girl! i collect a lot of 20's and 30's internationals and others but what i would give for that 806 should be criminal! i have been looking for it and maybe someday. russ

[Tony Thompson]

I quit my job cuz it sucked, I been out in the play pen since Nov. 1st, have restored two tractors, and half way through the 3rd. My hands are so beat up , they are nearly as numb as my brain......... Bug - What bug ? ........

[CharlieBiler]

He-he-he..... I just got bit by the bug,,, OUCH. I took my life's savings, pension money, and borrowed everything I could. I piled it all up and bought.............TRACTOR PARTS. Everyone now knows that I went off the reservation.

I can not quit my sucky job. I owe my soul to the company store. In a few weeks I will be selling tractor parts. I now know what it is like to skydive.....Well at least the free fall part. Yes, the bug has me and he refuses to let me breathe unless a little exhaust is mixed in.